IBIT Fund Reaches AUM of $75.6 Billion Just 18 Months After Launch, Becoming BlackRock's Third Most Profitable Fund and Helping to Reduce Bitcoin Volatility.
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has officially exceeded 700,000 BTC according to data from Glassnode, just one and a half years after its launch in January 2024. At the current Bitcoin price, the fund's total assets under management (AUM) is equivalent to nearly $75.6 billion according to data from CoinGecko, marking an astonishing milestone in ETF market history.
This Bitcoin ETF is currently the third most profitable fund in the portfolio of the world's largest asset manager BlackRock, surpassing both iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). Both of these traditional ETFs were launched in 2000, over 25 years ago, and despite having higher total assets with lower management fees, this has enabled the IBIT fund to quickly rise in the revenue rankings.
This information comes right after IBIT recorded two consecutive weeks of strong capital inflows. According to data from Farside Investors, IBIT attracted $52.8 million in the past two weeks, far exceeding all other Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. The nearest competing fund in size, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), only attracted $12.3 million in the same period, showing the superior appeal of BlackRock's product.
Significant Volatility Reduction Impact
Rajiv Sawhney, Director of International Investment Portfolio Management at Wave Digital Assets International, shared with Decrypt that this milestone could have an impact far beyond the ETF framework. The investor base participating in this ETF is primarily long-term investors, which is reducing Bitcoin volatility compared to previous cycles.
Sawhney noted that both implied and actual volatility have been at record lows in recent months, and believes that the popularity of funds like IBIT is an important reason for this. This creates a more stable trading environment for Bitcoin, markedly different from the highly volatile periods in the past.
He predicts that this momentum will continue through the summer, and some traders may shift to speculating in stocks linked to digital assets, such as Japan's Metaplanet investment company or the stablecoin giant Circle. However, for market makers or hedge funds that rely on volatility for profit, this trend is not good news as it narrows opportunities to profit from short-term price fluctuations.
